Setting intonation - problem!

I recently got a G&L ASAT thinline. I love the sound and playability, but today I tried adjusting the intonation....

I'm having trouble setting the intonation on the G string - the bolt that holds the saddle is too short.
The neck is nearly straight, slight relief - action is set nicely.

Open/ 12th fret harmonic is perfectly on G, the 12th fret is showing up flat on my tuner. I shortened the scale (loosened the saddle bolt) as much as I could without the saddle falling out, and fretting the string on 12 is still slightly flat.

In order to correct this, should I go to a thicker string gauge, or a thinner one?

The rest of the strings are actually towards the end of their adjustment range, but there's plenty of real estate on the bridge itself - I'd have plenty of room to move the saddle towards the nut if only the bolt would allow.

The strings are the ones that came with the bass, which I bought about 2 weeks ago.

longer bolts would be great if I could find them. It seems that the saddles should be able to adjust more than that.

Originally posted by tragicmagic The rest of the strings are actually towards the end of their adjustment range, but there's plenty of real estate on the bridge itself - I'd have plenty of room to move the saddle towards the nut if only the bolt would allow.

The strings are the ones that came with the bass, which I bought about 2 weeks ago.

longer bolts would be great if I could find them. It seems that the saddles should be able to adjust more than that.

Click to expand...

If all the strings are at, or near, the end of thier adjustment range it probably means that the bridge was installed in the wrong position.

If a new set of strings doesn't correct the prob I would consider moving the bridge.

A bridge that is mounted in the wrong position would be pretty rare on a production instrument. Not impossible, but rare.

Good luck and please let us know what the resolution to the prob ends up being.